Perhaps. I have just discovered that I am a direct descendant of Ephraim McDowell M.D., who was the doctor who removed the first ovarian tumor and practiced medicine in Kentucky, which was a slave state. Ephraim McDowell died in 1830 before the Civil War but his grandson General Irvin McDowell served as a Union general.

I grew up in New Jersey. My grandsons are half Navajo. My grandmother’s second husband on my mother’s side was a Sioux Indian. So I never got the whole race thing. But I did just finish reading April 1865 by Jay Winik and I loved the part where a homeless Robert E. Lee takes communion with a black church member at St Paul’s Episcopal Church in a very burned out Richmond, VA.

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!